Meaghan McDonald

Meaghan McDonald leads The Pew Charitable Trusts’ work to reduce community violence in Philadelphia. This involves supporting the city and its partners in their efforts to coordinate programs through a unified strategy, focus on people and places at the highest risk, and evaluate outcomes. She is an expert on evidence-based approaches to reducing violence, with an emphasis on aligning multisector partners under a shared mission.

Before joining Pew, McDonald served as the senior director of the National Network for Safe Communities, where she designed and led violence reduction technical assistance for cities across the country. She also served as a research analyst at Saint Joseph’s University and as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with the city of Philadelphia, leading outreach for a community violence reduction strategy in South Philadelphia.

McDonald holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in criminology from Saint Joseph’s University.